On the topic of burning calories and MFP: I don't have a heart rate monitor at the moment (yes I need to get one), but after putting some exercises into their calculator I think they sort of overestimate how much you burn. Someone who uses a HRM regularly please verify or debunk this for me.

Yeah, I think it does. I would probably shave off a few of those calories just to be safe. Actually, I even subtract calories from what my HRM tells me. I think I burn just under 1 calorie per minute just from existing (if I've calculated it right, based on my BRM), so I subtract 1 calorie for every minute I exercise. It probably sounds obsessive, but that's 60 calories if I work out for an hour, which is something. I'm not sure if I really need to be doing that, but I'd rather be under than over.

On the topic of burning calories and MFP: I don't have a heart rate monitor at the moment (yes I need to get one), but after putting some exercises into their calculator I think they sort of overestimate how much you burn. Someone who uses a HRM regularly please verify or debunk this for me.

Yeah, I think it does. I would probably shave off a few of those calories just to be safe. Actually, I even subtract calories from what my HRM tells me. I think I burn just under 1 calorie per minute just from existing (if I've calculated it right, based on my BRM), so I subtract 1 calorie for every minute I exercise. It probably sounds obsessive, but that's 60 calories if I work out for an hour, which is something. I'm not sure if I really need to be doing that, but I'd rather be under than over.

This is really something I'm curious about. I wore a heart rate monitor last night during the Club Strength class I go to (kind of like Body Pump/interval circuity with weights), and when I changed the description from running to strength training, it said I burned over 1000 calories? That doesn't seem right, does it?

_________________I would eat Dr. Cow pocket cheese in a second. I would eat it if you hid it under your hat, or in your backpack, but not if it was in your shoe. That's where I draw the line. -allularpunk

One thing I like about myfitnesspal is adding up what I've eaten and being surprised that its so LOW in calories! In the sense that I've struggled with "slipping up" and then figuring oh crepe I might as well jus eat a bunch of junk cuz the day/week/month has been ruined. (Tip: this is not an effective mentality!) Today I ate 5 Oreos, and I felt like my calorie budget was blown, but then I added it together and the Oreos were only a little over 250 calories. Not a good idea to spend it on something with basically no nutrition, but, even after lunch I still have 400 and change for dinner and that's not bad at all (plus I don't get upset about going over a tad if I'm hungry). So I'm glad I logged everything and moved on instead of throwing in the towel.

That does sound really high! Seems unreasonable unless it was a really long class and you worked really hard, but I'm no expert.

Right! It was a 55 minute class, and I did work hard, but I don't know. It still seems ridiculous. I ate a bowl of Cocoa-Snapz after dinner just to be safe though.

_________________I would eat Dr. Cow pocket cheese in a second. I would eat it if you hid it under your hat, or in your backpack, but not if it was in your shoe. That's where I draw the line. -allularpunk

One thing I like about myfitnesspal is adding up what I've eaten and being surprised that its so LOW in calories! In the sense that I've struggled with "slipping up" and then figuring oh crepe I might as well jus eat a bunch of junk cuz the day/week/month has been ruined. (Tip: this is not an effective mentality!)

Yes! And honestly, I think working in some treats is a good way to keep sane, because who wants to live in a world without any treats? Sad face. I will sometimes have vegan cake or cookies or a glass of wine or something and not stress about it, because I've planned my food for the day and it fits it with everything else.

One thing I like about myfitnesspal is adding up what I've eaten and being surprised that its so LOW in calories! In the sense that I've struggled with "slipping up" and then figuring oh crepe I might as well jus eat a bunch of junk cuz the day/week/month has been ruined. (Tip: this is not an effective mentality!) Today I ate 5 Oreos, and I felt like my calorie budget was blown, but then I added it together and the Oreos were only a little over 250 calories. Not a good idea to spend it on something with basically no nutrition, but, even after lunch I still have 400 and change for dinner and that's not bad at all (plus I don't get upset about going over a tad if I'm hungry). So I'm glad I logged everything and moved on instead of throwing in the towel.

Yeah, I give myself permission to eat basically whatever I want, as long as the majority of my food is healthy and I stay within my limits. I've eaten cake 3 days this week and been under on calories every day. So, oh well! Next week I will not eat any cake, so I figure it all balances out.

How can you be under on calories and eat cake? Maybe I fail at calorie maintenance.

Well it probably depends on your daily calorie limit. I'm eating 1400-1500 most days. I don't eat a giant amount of cake or cookies, but 200-300 calories worth of cake out of a 1500 calorie diet still leaves room for actual meals. Plus a lot of days are cake-free so if I go over my daily "limit" one day by 50 cals because I ate some cake I'm not going to stress too hard over it.

My coat is now too loose - yay! But I have once again eaten all my calories and I haven't yet had dinner.

How can you be under on calories and eat cake? Maybe I fail at calorie maintenance.

My highest calorie meal is breakfast which is around ~400 or so. Lunch is usually a little over a cup of veggies with spices and a half cup of grain/lentil/bean mixture. Usually tends to be in the ~250-300 range. Dinner is the same thing. I eat a bunch of peanut butter throughout the day (I exercise every day and have a high appetite), but if I cut out the exercise and the snacking, I'd have a bunch of calories to play with.

It's really all about the veggies, especially the leafy/bulky ones that aren't starchy.

_________________"Vegan to me means Oreos for breakfast." -Poopiebitch"tl;dr: I quit working to drink beer paid for with gift cards" erikasoyf*cker

That is so great! My breakfasts are 500 and I've been stuffing green leafies in, but I just miss the feeling of toast. I cut down from 4 slices to 2 though. Man I ate a lot before I started tracking. (good times) But I definitely like feeling my clothes fit better and seeing the dial slowly move down.

I love the idea of writing down motivations for losing weight. Most of mine involve awesome fun things to do with my kiddo :)

_________________My oven is bigger on the inside, and it produces lots of wibbly wobbly, cake wakey... stuff. - The PoopieB.

Tofulish, Alvarado St. Bakery makes a whole grain bread with only 50 cals/slice. My Trader Joe's sells it. It makes pretty good toast. If you can get that brand where you live, it might be worth trying.

I am getting really excited about a couple of major milestones. I know most of you won't be able to relate to this, but I am about to be under 300 for the first time since I was 25 (I'm 35 now). I've got 10 more pounds to go. This is totally unbelievable to me.

Also once I get to 100 pounds down I am rewarding myself with a new tattoo. It will be on the back of my left shoulder and it will be my favorite quote: "...only a few people are awake, and they live in a state of constant, total amazement." (Points if you know what movie that's from!) I've been playing around with design. At first I wanted it to be in courier font, like a typewriter, totally plain. I'm considering some embellishment and maybe different font sizes emphasizing AWAKE and AMAZEMENT. We'll see.

My Deva Vegan supplements came in the mail today so I'm excited to get those started. I've read some stuff about D deficiency hindering weight loss. I got Deva Vegan D3 (D3 right? the vegan one), B12, Multi, and Cal/Mag.

Just got done with my new weekly ritual of looking through cookbooks and choosing a couple of new recipes to try, and ways to use what I already have in the house, then making my grocery list and shopping. For a long time I was really wasteful both buying too much food and also eating too much food (obvs!) so I've been reviewing what I have each week so I use that and add as needed. Also for the first time I'm not wasting produce letting it go bad because I didn't eat it! Now I put a weekly BLD menu on the fridge so I remember to eat all the produce.

This week I am trying V'con Chickpea Cutlets as well as a Chickpea Quinoa pilaf. Going to make kale chips again too, holy wow are they yummy when homemade, and I can't believe how much money I save (the $6.99 small bag at Vit Cottage is totally unreal!)

Tofulish, Alvarado St. Bakery makes a whole grain bread with only 50 cals/slice. My Trader Joe's sells it. It makes pretty good toast. If you can get that brand where you live, it might be worth trying.

Gaah! I was just about to post about this sprouted bread I've been getting, Silver Hills brand, Squirrely--My Fitness Pal had said it was 55 calories a slice, and I looked up the brand's website to link it and it's actually 110 calories a slice! MFP is a lying liar!!!

geeksweetheart, that's amazing! Way to go! D2 is the vegan one, but all Deva vitamins are vegan so you definitely got the right one. :)

I do the same thing you do with looking through cookbooks/brainstorming/making shopping lists.... for me it's mostly an attempt to save money, because if I don't make a list I end up forgetting stuff or buying weird crepe that I don't know what to do with. :P Hope you enjoy the chickpea cutlets - they're a favorite in our house!

Congratulations geeksweetheart! That is amazing! Your tattoo sounds so cool - I don't know the quote, but I like it a lot!

For produce and food management, I keep my receipts from grocery shopping on the fridge and give them a quick once over to see what I have, what I have used etc. I also do one shop, and just spend down everything in the fridge and freezer before restocking. I also sub out stuff I don't have rather than going to the store for special trips and buy a lot of frozen broccoli, spinach, kale etc because they last longer and are so good for stretching out last minute meals. I also really like to read cookbooks to figure out how to make a recipe more healthy and to be reminded what a "normal" serving should be. Otherwise I make a dish that serves 4 and eat it alone.

Also, re the chickpea cutlets, we love them and almost always quadruple the recipe and freeze the left over cutlets. So you can save yourself time and add a little protein on days when you're lagging by just pulling one or two out and slicing them into whatever else you're making.

_________________My oven is bigger on the inside, and it produces lots of wibbly wobbly, cake wakey... stuff. - The PoopieB.

I need to buy more frozen vegetables. I don't know why, but I almost never do. And then when I run out of fresh, I sometimes go several days without eating any vegetables at all. That always sucks. Makes no sense!